There are different recommended approaches to adopting a 4K production workflow that range from standing up an entirely new 4K
environment to building a pilot or smaller environment to work with an existing environment.
Option 1 – Build a New End-to-End 4K Environment
Some fortunate customers will be able to build a new environment with end-to-end 4K capability— from ingest through delivery. This
is a superb time to assess the entire workflow, from asset managers to the complete content production and monetization lifecycle.
Sizing for a fresh, end-to-end, 4K-capable production environment is similar to specifying an HD production environment, with the
caveat that the system will require fast and highly capable SAN Metadata Controllers, and enough Fibre Channel storage and
bandwidth scaled to serve all clients for the number and size of streams that are required for the most efficient editing.
Option 2 – Stand Up a ‘Side-by-Side 4K Environment
Another option is to simply stand up a new, smaller 4K-capable environment alongside an existing HD production environment. This
smaller environment can realize all of the benefits of a true, collaborative workflow, while sharing key assets and finished
files with the existing environment. While it may be necessary to run additional Fibre Channel or Ethernet networking to accommodate
both the HD and 4K environment at the same time, the impact is much less than having to create an entirely new environment
from scratch. Key production workstations can mount both the HD and 4K SANs at the same time to ease productivity between the
two environments as needed.
This approach is an excellent way to cost- effectively gain 4K production capability while maintaining existing HD productivity,
and is much easier to implement and allows editors to gain 4K experience and familiarity over time.
Quantum’s StorNext® Pro 4K
Quantum’s StorNext® Pro 4K solution was expressly designed to accommodate either of these approaches—either as the foundation for
an entirely new environment; or a small, contained, yet fully 4K-capable environment that can live alongside an existing production
environment.
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